Nautilus Peace and Security Weekly – 23 August 2012

Recommended Citation

Yi Kiho, NAPSNet Contributor, "Nautilus Peace and Security Weekly – 23 August 2012", NAPSNet Weekly Report, August 23, 2012, https://nautilus.org/napsnet/napsnet-weekly/nautilus-peace-and-security-weekly-23-august-2012/

CONTENTS

See this week’s blog: President Lee Myung-bak’s diplomatic leadership challenge, from our Governance and Civil Society contributor, Yi Kiho.


DETERRENCE:  Assuring South Korea and Japan as the role and number of U.S. nuclear weapons are reduced, Michael Keifer et al, National Institute for Public Policy (1 January 2011) [PDF, 0.7MB]

As the US lowers numbers and reduces the role of nuclear weapons in Northeast Asia, South Koreans have to ask whether the US would trade Seattle for Seoul.  Attempting to answer the question almost certainly would have a corrosive effect on assurance.


DPRK: North Korea may lose 700,00 tonnes in crops: report,  Asiaone News (21 August 2012)

Initial reports stating DPRK Leader Kim Jong Eun reportedly will make his first overseas visit as head of state to Iran for a non-aligned movement meeting (NAM) may be incorrect.  The symbolism of going to NAM first and not China is extremely strong, if true.  Jang Songtaek recently left China empty-handed, but well-feted.  DPRK crops will be woefully insufficient this year and set the stage for mass starvation and/or desperate behavior.


ENERGY SECURITY: 300 million without electricity in India after restoration of power grid, The Onion (1 August 2012)

Varieties of energy insecurities: US satire daily The Onion got it right; even as the grid was restored after the world’s biggest power outage, some 300 million people continued in the dark as before the outage, either because they didn’t have a grid connection or power shortages are endemic, hitting mostly the poor and the rural. Outages will continue; the poor will remain in the dark. The rich have backup generators, as do many businesses for whom no power is more expensive than no power.


GOVERNANCE AND CIVIL SOCIETY: Territorial disputes prevent cooperation in East Asia, Park Min-hee and Jeong Nam-ku, Hankyoreh (20 August 2012)

Territorial disputes between China, Japan and the ROK are straining regional ties. Hong Kong activists landed on the Senkaku Islands (Chinese Daioyu), triggering a tit-for-tat response from Japanese activists, followed by protests in China and condemnations from both governments. The ROK rejected Japan’s proposal to bring the Liancourt Rocks dispute to the ICJ and plans to increase security around the islets to deter Japanese activists from landing.


President Lee Myung-bak’s diplomatic leadership challenge

by Yi Kiho, NAPSNet Contributor

South Korea President Lee Myung-bak made an unprecedented visit to Dokdo (Takeshima in Japan) abruptly on the afternoon of August 10……


CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: Understanding the costs and benefits of disaster risk reduction under changing climate conditions: case study results and underlying principles, Fawad Khan et al., Institute for Social and Environmental Transition (2012) [37.0 MB, PDF]

The costs and benefits of any disaster risk reduction (DRR) intervention depend heavily on the nature of that intervention and on the local context. The two cases (boat winch project to protect the vessels of fishers in Vietnam; & climate-friendly straw-bale building techniques in urban areas of Nepal ) cover three different types of strategies for building climate resilience – medium-term, long-term and small-scale – all of which can play a role in the future of developing countries vulnerable to climate change.


AUSTRAL PEACE AND SECURITY: Smith seeks to boost regional defence, AAP, The Australian (9 August 2012)

Defence Minister Stephen Smith says Australia will need to boost defence ties with regional nations as Australia withdraws from Afghanistan, East Timor and the Solomons. As an initial step, Mr Smith and Indonesian Defence Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro will sign a new defence cooperation agreement. He said the focus of defence engagement in our neighbourhood needed to reflect changing strategic circumstances.


The Nautilus Peace and Security Weekly Report presents articles and full length reports each week in six categories: Austral security, nuclear deterrence, energy security, climate change and security, the DPRK, climate change adaptation and governance and civil society. Our team of contributors carefully select items that highlight the links between these themes and the three regions in which our offices are found—North America, Northeast Asia, and the Austral-Asia region. Each week, one of our authors also provides a short blog that explores these inter-relationships.

Subscribe to NAPSNet to receive free weekly email reports

Editor

Contributors